Shine a Light
by tigerfeet
Summary: Formerly Shelter from the Storm: The population of an entire town disappears virtually overnight save for a lone survivor who's days may be numbered. As Sam and Dean attempt to keep her safe things get complicated when Castiel gets involved Cas/OC
1. Prologue: The Road So Far

**(A/N: So, on account of being horrifically blocked with a couple of other fics I'm currently working on, and in combination with last Friday's episode completely ripping my heart out (but that's another matter lol) my little plot bunny has been nipping at my heels to revise this AGAIN and put a little new life into it. Being reinspired for things always means I need to go back and get reacquainted with my fics so where as I've already revised this once I've done it / am in the process of doing it again. So, for those to whom this seems familiar, it was at one point long, long ago tilted "Shelter from the Storm" basic concept is the same, there's been some minor changes but mostly just in wording and description and some more dialogue added. I'm currently still revising, there's about three more chapters that I have to revise but I'm hoping to have a new one up by the end of the week and hopefully that will be motivation for my writer's block to go away for my other fics. I also have two new fics I'M DYING to start but I have so many on the go right now. I wish I could just be paid to write fan fiction lol but don't we all_?_**

**This is a Cas/OC fic and it may border on a little sueish but well written sues make my heart brim with love and I enjoy writing them very, very much. So, I hope you find it at the least well written and enjoyable even if it turns out a little sueish.**

**I'm trying to keep as much to the timeline set in season four but may deviate from time to time or readjust but nothing that's going to be unbearable. For the sake of this fic, we are picking things up sometime between Yellow Fever and It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester. I'm trying to stay away from word for word show dialogue but if a little squeaks in here and there it's because it's important or it just plain can't be helped.**

**Other than that Same old standard issue disclaimer applies, I do not own anything other than my OC but I would very much like to own both of the Winchesters and ohhhhhhh if I owned Cas…)**

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><p><strong><em>Prologue: The Road so Far<em>**

Sam Winchester took a long slow swig of coffee from a precariously lover filled cup. Eyes glued to the screen of his laptop intently, he scrolled over the contents of an online newspaper article and half jumped out of his skin as Dean flopped down gruffly against the overstuffed vinyl seating of the booth they had been populating the past twenty odd minutes

It wasn't that Sam wasn't glad to have his brother once again among the land of the living, quite the opposite in fact. It was more or less a matter of being trapped in the difficult phase of readjustment that was posing a bit of a problem. It had taken quite a good chunk of the time he had been hunting on his own to adjust to life without his brother and it went without saying it was only logical for a similar adjustment phase to happen. After all Dean did have a certain sort of presence (for lack of a better word) and said presence didn't exactly lend itself to the concept of transitioning smoothly. A lot of things had changed when Sam was on his own, and though it was going to take some time and a little bit of effort, there was nothing to say that they couldn't be changed back. At least for the most part anyways.

Sam looked up from the screen only long enough to shoot Dean a look of subdued disgust at both the smell and content of the greasy breakfast sandwich he had set about devouring. Apparently not taking the time to chew a single morsel was another one of Dean's habits, personality traits, and / or quirks that would need a bit of readjusting to. As uncomfortable or put out as he was, at the very least Sam new he wasn't the only one who needed to settle back in to life as it had been, and for some strange reason he found it more than just a little reassuring. Whatever Dean had gone through, it had understandably changed him. Not on the surface or in any blazingly evident way, but on a deeper level, a level that only those who knew Dean, who understood him and really understood him well would notice. Sam knew his brother perhaps better than anybody, and with every day that passed he became more and more aware that the brother who sat before him now was but a shell of his former self. Dean wasn't ever going to let on that everything was anything other than alright of course, not until he was pushed to his breaking point; a fact which had Sam perhaps the most concerned. For now, however, it was just one more thing that needed to be shoved to the back of his mind so that more pressing matters could be readily dealt with.

"What?" Dean mumbled around food-swelled cheeks as he noticed his brother staring him down incredulously.

"Nothing." Sam brushed a few crumbs that had jettisoned from his brother's mouth off of the table. "Just trying to figure when exactly you were planning on surfacing for air."

He rolled his eyes and flashed a sarcastic smile before taking another enormous bite out of his breakfast. "Find anything yet?"

"I think so, I mean it sounds like it could be our kind of thing."

Dean pressed Sam for more information with an exaggerated hand gesture.

"Small town Nebraska, mining town kind of deal just outside some place called Stapleton…"

"Nebraska's weird." Dean cut his brother off matter of factly and slurped his coffee sloppily whilst reminiscing of various Nebraskan hunts gone awry.

"Anyways…" Sam shot Dean an exasperated look and cleared his throat. "In keeping with weird Nebraskan phenomena, this place puts weird on the map. This place has gone ghost town virtually overnight."

"Really?"

"No calls to family, no emails," Sam spun his laptop around so as to better illustrate a point with the displayed website. "Cars are in garages, doors are locked from the inside, dinner still set out on tables, you name it. Everything is as it should be, there's not one thing out of place except for the fact that is in essence _everyone_ apparently vanished into thin air. By all accounts, this place is buzzing with tourist activity basically all year round and just like that it's dead."

"Maybe they all got wished out into the corn field or something." Dean chortled, scanning briefly over the contents of the website and lingering on a handful of photographs quite effectively depicting a town that had come to an unnatural stand still.

"Not exactly, but I'd definitely say 'or something'" Sam half chuckled.

"Whoa…" Dean half exclaimed, reaching the point in the article Sam was in wait for him to find.

"Yeah."

"An entire town goes A.W.O.L minus one girl?" Dean arched a brow. "That's more than just a little off."

"And Dean, this girl is under some mental ward lock down or psychiatric observation in the next town over. She hasn't slept for two weeks and according to the article she hasn't been able to give police a solid statement due to extreme psychological trauma."

"Psychological trauma or something that's just so unbelievable they think she's gone over the edge."

"Exactly." Sam agreed. "There's definitely more to this than anyone's ever going to read about in the paper, that's for sure."

"See? I told you Nebraska was weird." Dean grimaced. "And I don't just mean this stuff, have you ever met any of the general population of small town Nebraska? The country bumpkin, hillbilly factor alone is enough to make you sleep with one eye open for weeks."

"Dean."

"I'm just sayin'" He held up his hands in defense and downed what was left of his coffee in one swift gulp.

"What do you think?"

"Looks like we're headed to Creepsville, Nebraska."

Dean near jumped back out of the booth, showing his trademark enthusiasm for his "profession". For that brief moment in time things seemed exactly as they once had been; and that, for the time being was good enough for Sam.


	2. Chapter One: Lily

**_Chapter One: Lily_**

Jerking awake with a start, Lily Abernathy almost toppled out of the window seat she had curled herself into. Not that she had been fully asleep of course; sleep was a luxury she simply was not permitted any more. Even in the half assed psych ward of a small town hospital, a place were the meds ran like water, Lily couldn't get more than a few minutes of honest to goodness, sweet, blessed, REM sleep. To be honest, though she needed it desperately, sleep was the last thing she wanted. Sleep meant dreams and the dreams she was currently prone to were so horrifically vivid and terrifying sleep had become less of a pleasantry and more of a punishment; as if she hadn't already been punished enough as it was.

Lily had no idea why, or even how she was still alive. She wasn't even supposed to have been, or and didn't even want to have been living in Hideaway on a permanent basis. But as luck would have it, she had been and now by the grace of someone or something, she was the last one standing. She was alive and had escaped as two by two, three by three, and upwards there of everyone in Hideaway, were massacred. Good people had been killed, gutted and ripped to shreds, by something unimaginable; something that belonged only in nightmarish fairytales and stories told around campfires. Everyone she had come to know in the past few years of her life had been torn apart by something that nobody was ever going to believe her actually existed.

She had tried, against her better judgment to tell people what had happened. Lily had nothing to lose and was dying to explain to anyone who would give her a moment to impart her knowledge; not that it was getting her anywhere or causing her anything other than a load of trouble. Everyone either thought she was batshit crazy or at least well on her way to being so and to be perfectly honestly Lily wasn't so sure they were all that wrong. Sane people didn't have these kinds of things happen to them, sane people didn't end up in a place like she had either, not voluntarily. But in being in a place as she was, there was at least the virtual guarantee of safety. To the best of her knowledge they couldn't get to her as long as she was tucked away inside the walls of the hospital. They could try, but for them to get in and get to her unnoticed would be next to impossible; for now. However, if nothing else, Lily had learned over the past few days that safety "for now" wasn't enough of a sure thing or a reassurance of much at all. These things – _they_ – that had destroyed everyone else in town, for lack of better wording were hunting her; or stalking her. It hadn't been very long at all after police admitted her to the ward that they started showing up around the yard. A silent reminder that they knew exactly where she was; and maybe that it was only a matter of time before they could get their proverbial hands on her.

A tiny flash of movement in the yard, and Lily's attention was drawn outside. Reluctantly, she pushed the gauzy white curtains to the side for a better view, and in an instant she realized she should have known better. Standing between two towering and unruly oak trees was a painfully slender young man seemingly in his late teens. Dressed inconspicuously, and face obscured by a down tipped brim of a baseball cap and staring vacantly ahead of himself as he stood still as a statue, concealed gaze fixed solidly in her direction. Normal as anything for the most part, but Lily knew there was far more to the young man that met the eye.

Hand clapped over her mouth she stifled a sharp cry and jerked backwards, once again almost flinging herself from her perch. Lily clenched her eyes shut as tightly as possible and curled her fingers into tight little fists. A foolish, childish solution that once worked wonders on childhood spooks and minor disturbances, she was convinced that were she to just keep her eyes closed long enough, even just for ten seconds it would be gone and everything would be right again when she had the guts to take another look.

_One...two..._

If she couldn't see it, it wasn't there.

_Three…four…five..._

If she couldn't see it, it wasn't real.

_Six...seven_

If she just focused enough, she could get rid of it through sheer will and everything would be right as it should be when she mustered the guts to peek out the window again.

_Eight...nine..._

From behind and without any warning, a hand clapped down on her shoulder, ripping her attention away from her silly distraction and back into reality. Though she had managed to stifle one ear-piercing scream, there was no such luck this time. Eyes wide as saucers, she turned on the bench to greet an audience of fellow patients milling about the area startled into stillness by her sudden outburst. Among them was a portly and rather mousy looking woman (the head of administration, known only as Gladys to those in the ward) and accompanying her, two unassuming and moderately friendly looking young men, clad in sharp professional attire.

"Whoa, easy there…" The shorter of the two men half chuckled and held up his hands in apology and took an abrupt step back. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Silent, Lily eyed the strangers momentarily before turning her attention back towards the window. Whether by product of her wishful thinking alone or something else entirely, it was gone. The yard was once again blessedly empty and she pressed her forehead to the glass as a wave of relief coursed over her, stilling the panic and drowning out the heartbeat still thrumming in her ears.

"Miss?" The stranger's voice pulled at Lily's attention again. "Are you alright?

She nodded shyly.

"Don't talk much huh?"

Lily eyed him again, expression worn and drawn; in no mood for any form of humor and without energy to exchange niceties.

"Okay then." The stranger sighed to himself and shot his companion an exasperated look.

Gladys interjected "Lily, these two nice men…are from the FBI."

She smiled in a gentle kind of way that made Lily cringe each and every time she was subjected to it. It was the kind of smile that conveyed just how fragile everyone though she was, like she was made of glass and would shatter into a thousand pieces if anyone so much as sneezed.

"Agents Plant and Page." The short man smiled, and whipped an identification badge out just long enough for her to get a glimpse.

Lily cocked her head and narrowed her eyes at the questionably named pair. "Really?"

"Yeah," The agent Lily assumed should be referred to as "Plant", on account of his gestures, cleared his throat awkwardly. "That'd be…that'd be us. Anyway…"

"The agents would like a word; just a brief one, they'd like to know what happened…" Gladys smiled again, stepping in as if to keep Lily calm. "If you don't mind."

Lily shrugged and swung her feet over the side of the window bench and slowly trailed the men out of the common area. Just a few feet from the door, she dared to take one last look out the window. The yard remained blessedly free of the unwelcome visitor, but that as it were provided only a little comfort. He, or rather _it_, would be back; there wouldn't be much solace for Lily for very much longer.

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><p>Sam's eyebrows half knitted together in concern, his face grim as he gazed at Lily from across Gladys's desk. Pressing herself tightly into an overstuffed leather chair, Lily gnawed at her thumbnail anxiously as she stared pointedly out the window.<p>

She was every bit as shattered and worn looking as she had been in the photo printed with the news article and maybe even more so. Her already fair complexion was even further blanched, and thick dark circles rimmed bloodshot and worry laden grey eyes. Mahogany hair slipped free in random strands from a lackadaisical ponytail and the sweat clothes the facility had given her hung slack and bulky off of her petite frame. Bright red crescents in rows adorned her palms from where she had squeezed her fingernails into her flesh so hard she had drawn blood. That and the way she was but a few good chews from having gnawed her fingernails down to the quick made Sam all the more certain she was at the edge. There was no way Lily would be able to carry on the way she was much longer, that much was clear.

Both Sam and Lily jumped in the respective seats as without warning the door to the office shut with a reverberating slam.

"Oops," He Dean chuckled sheepishly and strode across the room to rejoin the pair. "Quiet in here. Sure am glad you two didn't start up any small talk without me."

"Well, I know how you get when you miss out on things so…" Sam quipped.

"Oh, I do get a little uppity when I feel left out don't I?" He set his coffee and danish tandem down and took a seat of his own.

A faint smile graced Lily's only to vanish just as quickly as it had appeared when Dean's drew his attention to her.

"Are you don't want anything? Something a little sweet or uh, I could go back down and get you a coffee?"

"Coffee's a stimulant. It' not really allowed." She sighed. "They obviously don't want us very stimulated in a place like this."

"That is a valid point." He shrugged. "But we can break the rules a little and no one will know. Won't tell a soul, I swear."

"Nope." Sam smirked, and shook his head as Dean worked a little charm to soften Lily up. It was a well-honed skill to be sure; always very handy when put to use in these sorts of situations.

"Thanks…but no." She mumbled and swiped the back of her hand across her eyes. "I can't really sleep as it is."

"Really?" Dean pulled a healthy chunk of his pastry off and passed it across to Lily, who gave in and accepted the offer. "In a place like this they can't hook you up? I mean they've probably got enough sleeping pills to put an elephant out for a month."

"Yeah, they don't seem to work on me." Lily shrugged. "No one knows why. They've already upped the dose three times…hasn't made any difference at all. They say I'm stressed out and that my mind isn't open to accepting help so I'm subconsciously fighting the medication."

"And what do you think?" Dean asked gently.

"I don't know…I don't even think I know much about anything anymore."

A brief lull in conversation and Lily shifted anxiously in her seat and forced a small bite of danish down.

"Lily," Sam cleared his throat. "I know this is hard for you, and I know you've been over this probably a hundred times but, can you tell us what happened?"

She shrugged and pulled into herself a little protectively tighter.

"If we knew we might be able to help you." He assured her.

"That's what everyone says. So far no one's delivered."

"Yeah, well we're not exactly everyone else." Dean offered.

"If you need more time, it's alright." Sam assured her. "We can come back."

"More time." She chortled solemnly. "More time is exactly what I need but exactly what nobody can give me."

Sam exchanged a brief look with his brother. "I'm not quite sure I understand."

"They found me." Lily replied sadly, dropping her head and forcing back the memories. "They're already here and I don't know how long it's going to before it all happens again."

"Who are they Lily?"

"How should I know? I don't know anything…I don't know what they want…I don't even understand what happened…or what's _still_ happening." Lily snuffled and dragged her sleeve across her nose, fresh tears already spilling down her cheeks. "And every time I talk about what I saw…or what I _think_ I saw, everyone keeps telling me I'm confused and that I just need to sleep. They keep stuffing me full of these pills to try and keep me calm…" She choked. "My head is so fuzzy…I feel like I've got cotton stuffed in my skull but I still know what I saw and I'm telling you that you won't believe me even if you try. Nobody can help me, not now. All I can tell you is to get the hell out of here while you still can."

"That's where you're wrong, actually." Dean replied matter of factly as his voice dropped and he leaned forward on the desk between them. "See, I know exactly what you're going through right now. I get that people probably keep looking at you the same way they look at me from time to time. I get that the more they tell you you're nutty the more there's a part of you that actually starts to believe them but I will make you a promise. You tell me _exactly _what you saw, no matter what it is, and I'll buy it. Other people don't like believing in things they don't understand, it makes them…uncomfortable. Thing is, just because they don't like to believe in things doesn't mean they don't exist. We're not gonna tell you you're crazy."

"You won't?"

He shook his head.

"Lily…my brother and I, we're…not exactly FBI." Sam joined in. "And helping people like you is sort of what we do."

Lily's eyes darted between the brothers as she tried to work out just what they were saying.

"What you do?" She arched a brow and for the first time in days it was her voice inflecting with a note of disbelief. "You mean like some sort of a job?"

"More or less." Sam chuckled.

"No offence but that's a little weird."

"Sister, you don't know the half of it." Dean agreed. "But I'll tell you one thing…"

"What's that?"

"We're your best bet."

Lily sighed and chewed her lower lip as she tried to clear her mind and gather her thoughts. It was mildly overwhelming, to say the least, that all of the sudden actually being faced with people who seemed to care to hear what she had to say without casting even one lick of judgment. The last thing she expected at that point was people who were willing to hear her out without trying to put a logical spin on things or tell her she was just confused. For the first time since everything happened she wasn't just going to be told that all she needed was a little rest to help her memory and get her thoughts straight and as terrified as she still was, that little bit of understanding gave her a little hope that maybe, everything would be over before long. It was a tiny scrap of hope, a flickering light at the end of the tunnel, but it was good enough for her.

"They looked human at first you know?" She started quietly. "They looked human enough to blend in anywhere without anyone ever suspecting a thing."

"Small town, but not small enough that everyone knows everyone else." Dean urged her on. "The kind of place no one really bates an eye at the sight of a stranger kind of deal right?"

"Well it wouldn't be a tourist town without strangers right? End of the summer is always the peak time too. So when they just started showing up in pairs, or small groups day by day no one said a thing. Everyone in that town was always so damn trusting…why would they think anything was funny?" Lily sighed and hung her head. "I caught a look at one of them once, just a glimpse a couple of days before everything happened and I saw its reflection in a window in town. I should have told somebody but at that point I thought I was seeing things; like a distortion or an optical illusion because monsters aren't supposed to be real so how could I be seeing what I was?"

Dean nodded understandingly. "Happens all the time."

"What did it look like?" Sam asked gently.

"Dead…or dying…maybe rotting is a better word?"

Dean grimaced slightly. "Well that sounds pleasant."

"They were grey, like corpses…skin strapped to bones really. With these horrible black eyes that were more sockets than anything else." She shuddered. "They look like everything scary you ever thought was hiding under your bed or in you closet as a kid...and when they look at you, it feels like there isn't anything that will make you feel alright again ever."

"The police statement says everything happened over the course of a few hours." Sam prodded her. "Can you tell us what it was that happened?"

"They tore that town apart." Lily continued. "They ripped those people up like it was nothing. I saw them being hauled out of their houses screaming and all mangled and gutted. Some of them weren't even dead yet…and all that blood…God, there was so much blood. I could smell it in the air just as clear as I could hear them screaming; I could hear them screaming clean across town."

"Lily…" Sam interjected to try and give her a little comfort, or at the very least a little support.

"I hid in the attic when it first started. I'd keep peeking out the window to see if they went away…or-or maybe if it was some sort of weird joke. It was weird though, because they never even made a move to come and get me. They were all standing there, like soldiers…just standing all around the house as far as I could tell. I saw them, and they saw me but they never came to get me and they were out there for hours until they just up and left just like that. I don't understand why, or even how I got away…why they left me to get away."

"Most of the time there isn't much _to _understand, Lily." Dean explained. "There's no such thing as thought process or reasons why with these sort of things when it comes down to it; not really anyway."

"Then I guess you can't tell me why they're back." She flicked her eyes up to meet his, glassy, red rimmed and exhausted. "Or what's going to happen to me…what's going to happen next?"

"To be honest, we don't know." Sam sighed and flashed her a sympathetic smile. "But we're gonna find out, and what happened that night won't ever happen again."


	3. Chapter Two: Heroes and Villains: Pt 1

**_Chapter Two: Heroes and Villains: Part One_**

"So," Dean grumbled as he shuffled into the rather lack luster hotel room. "You got any ideas yet?"

"Not a clue." Sam followed close in toe. "Doesn't sound like anything I've ever run into."

"Yeah, me neither."

"None of it makes any sense." He sighed and flipped open his laptop. "I mean, I know there's some things that basically feed on a person's fear but something like this just seems too complex and involved to be just that don't you think?"

"Got that right." Dean perched atop his respective bed and began peeling back the layers of his suit. "Man, wouldn't it be nice to have something nice and easy fall in our lap, just this once? A simple haunting that doesn't have us hauling ass all over east ass crack nowhere…or something that mean spending hours of sifting through a mountain of research before it tries to tear us to shreds. Gnomes…how come no one gets a case of damn Gnomes anymore?"

Sam arched a brow and stifled a sharp cackle. "Gnomes? Really? That's what you're up for hunting now? Jeeze Dean, if I didn't know any better I'd say you've gone soft."

"Hey, those little S.O.B's are pesky. I don't think they'd appreciate you scoffing at their mischief, Sasquatch."

Sam sighed and parked himself in front of his computer and settled in to try and dig something up. "Is it your turn to call Bobby or mine?"

"Hmm, mine I think…"

"That won't be necessary." A familiar voice gruffed and stoic as ever, Castiel stepped out from around the corner. Dutiful, flat, and emotionless as ever in his manner

"Well, isn't this a nice surprise." A sardonic chuckle escaped Dean's lips. "I guess we should have known better."

"Known what?" Castiel frowned.

"Is this a seal? An entire town getting wiped out over night doesn't seem like our garden variety kind of gig." Dean paused for effect. "And of course there's the mess of the severely traumatized girl who's been for some not so miraculous reason excluded from the massacre. Kinda feels like a seal to me."

"Yes and no." The angel sighed. "It's a possibility."

"A possibility?" Dean's eyes widened incredulously. "What's that supposed to mean? What's a seal and what's not is all complex all of the sudden?"

"Generally speaking, no."

"Then I take it we're not generally speaking." Sam chimed, feeling just a little bit like he wasn't really invited to the conversation.

"Not exactly." Castiel continued. "Lillith has to break sixty six seals in order to set Lucifer free. It becomes difficult to know with all certainty which ones she's going to attempt when there are six hundred seals she has choose from. Not everything we've been told and everything that's been written about these seals is so obvious. Some of them, like the rise of the witnesses, are guaranteed where as others we're forced to guess and pay attention to the signs to be sure of. All of these seals are written about in various scriptures but deciphering is tedious at best, even for the angels. In this case, things have proven difficult at the very least and more realistically speaking, it's been next to impossible."

"So it is a seal then?" Dean half spat the word in frustration at the way Castiel seemed to prefer speaking in riddles. Maybe it was angel style to draw things out at the most annoying or inconvenient time, but it was beginning to grate on his nerves.

"A seal can be anything." He explained. "An event or a place, even an inanimate object. But it can also be a series of interlocking events that need to be resolved in a certain order, or with a certain outcome to be successful in breaking the seal. Like pieces of a puzzle that will only fit together a certain way successfully. Circumstances being they are, we believe the girl…"

"Lily," Dean interrupted, a note of irritation lilting in his voice. Lily had been through enough; she didn't need to be dehumanized in standard angel fashion as well. "Her name is Lily."

Castiel cleared his throat. "Lily is a link in the chain of things to come, whether this is good or bad we haven't yet been able to determine but it seems more likely that she's involved in some capacity."

"Because she survived?" Sam asked.

"Harbingers don't just set on a town for no reason and they certainly wouldn't leave anyone exempt from the slaughter." Castiel sneered; the first real sign of emotion he had managed to display in front of the brothers, and the only indication he had any life in him at all. "They're among the lowest of the lower level demons, something you would probably consider to be similar to a prototype. They're slaves really, mindless and willing to do whatever they are commanded to, they'll annihilate anything and anyone and leave no trace. Lily escaped because they wanted her to escape not because she simply outsmarted them and managed to get away. If someone or something is after her and they've sent those Harbingers to do their dirty work, Hideaway was just the beginning as far as the destruction they will reap. They will do anything to assure their needs are met, and once Lily's part to play has come to completion they'll kill her as slowly as they please. Think of it as a reward for a job well done; there's nothing that Harbingers delight in more than the most extreme form of suffering."

Dean whistled under his breath. "Cheery."

"There was no intention of having you two handle this, but seeing as you've already become involved."

"You need a favor." Sam chimed in.

"Yes."

"And if we say no?"

"This isn't a request, Dean."

"Oh I get that, believe me I do." He cleared his throat awkwardly and turned his eyes to the ground. "I'm just your regular glorified errand boy, dare I say I'm painfully aware of that."

"Your hostility suggests we need to discuss your place in all of this."

"Nah, I'm good." Dean waved a hand dismissively. "I think you've made damn sure if I were any more clear about what my place is in relation to your team I'd be a freaking crystal."

Castiel set his jaw and huffed as he struggled to retain his patience.

"So, what do we do now?" Sam broke the momentary silence before there could be anymore back and forth. "Given all of this is accurate, what's our plan of attack?"

"For now, the only thing you can do is retrieve the girl and bring her back here." Castiel replied. "For lack of a better word, Harbingers aren't evolved enough to locate what they're after right away. No doubt they've already been circling the facility where she is now but they won't be able to get a lock on her location so quickly once we have her back here. They're like dogs; they need to track by primitive means mostly by the trail of scent. There's enough distance between the facility and this motel to keep them at bay for a day or two, maybe three at the most before they find her here. We'll need the time to prepare and even then it's a bare minimum as far as time is concerned."

"So, you want us to use Lily as bait?" Dean arched a brow questioningly.

"Simply speaking, yes."

"Come on Cas, you don't think she's been through enough? We're gonna make her relive this whole ordeal?"

"It's the only way." He explained. "Harbingers will never leave their mark unless called off."

"Yeah, so?"

"We need Lily to lure the Harbingers back to Hideaway."

Dean shook his head in astonishment. "And why would we want to do that."

"Because they need to be killed at their point of origin. Most likely they were raised in a wooded area or somewhere remote close to where the initial encounter occurred. Attacking them elsewhere is pointless, they're virtually indestructible."

"And how do we kill them once we get them there?" Sam disregarded the intricate details of the operation and cut straight to the most important question.

"With difficulty."

"This just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?" Dean groaned and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose in attempt to ward off an impending headache. "And if Lily doesn't want to or just flat out _won't_ come with us?"

"That's not my concern," Castiel replied flatly. "Find a way to get her back here or there's a lot more at stake than just another small town."

* * *

><p>Either too concerned, too confused, or too pessimistic about the logistics of the plan, on the trip back to the hospital both brothers were too wrapped up in the sudden complications of an already complicated case have much of a mind for anything other than the task at hand. No questions asked out loud, no chitchat or small talk, not even the ever-present drone of classic rock flooded the car. Just silence, still and imposing silence which never failed to make Dean more than just a touch uncomfortable be it any sort of situation.<p>

"Man, angel timing sucks doesn't it?" He cracked. "Driving all the way back out here after we've just made the trip and back. Cas couldn't have dropped in _before_ we went to see Lily?"

"Apparently not." Sam replied absent mindedly, scanning the roadmap for a well-planned route to Hideaway in the event that they needed to leave at the drop of a hat.

"I think he's sticking it to us." He quipped bluntly. "We've been driving basically all day, my ass hurts, I'm tired…hell I can't even remember the last time I ate."

"What are you talking about?" Sam eyed his brother in disbelief. "Dean, we made a pit stop before the hospital where you had two roast beef sandwiches and like a gallon of Pepsi. They didn't give us any napkins so you wiped horseradish mustard on the back of your tie. Then there was the Danish _and _the jelly doughnut you snuck on the way out after seeing Lily."

"Well, they clearly I have yet to be properly satisfied." Dean gripped at his stomach as it gurgled with a vengeance. "What do you want from me Sammy? I'm hungry, I'm a growing boy."

"I can see that." Sam agreed. "The only question is in which direction?"

"Are you saying I'm fat?"

"Hey, if you wanna put a label on it…"

"I'm big boned, Sam."

"I didn't say anything." He held his hands up in defense.

"Just for that, you can be the one to tell Lily we're dragging her ass out of the asylum and back to home sweet home, Smartass."

"Yeah, well…she liked me better anyways."

"You wish." Dean quipped with a chuckle. "She is gonna be pissed though."

"Can you blame her?"

"Not even a little."

"All that trauma, survivor's guilt." Sam shook his head. "It's heavy stuff even for us."

"You think it's gonna be all over after we roast these things? I mean, just because we kill them, does that get Lily off the hook or what?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Sam shrugged. "I would guess so but I don't think I'd risk taking anything for granted though. Seems to have the exact opposite effect when we're involved and if it's as complicated as Cas seems to think it is there's no telling what's next."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Dean's stomach growled loudly and he shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He longed to be somewhere, anywhere there was food even if it was some filthy greasy spoon where food poisoning was almost a guarantee. At that moment he would give anything to stop his stomach from feeling like it was digesting itself.

"Man, I gotta eat Sam." He groaned. "I was dead for months, that's gotta count for something right? I mean, I have to make up for lost time, it's only natural."

Sam rolled his eyes. "So, we get a bite on the way back."

"I can't! Maybe we're at the loony bin two minutes, maybe it'll be two hours; I can't wait that long, I can feel my stomach sucking to my spine."

"We're like five blocks out from the hospital, there's nothing around. Just try and focus and take some deep breaths or something."

"No good." Dean grumbled as he half leaned across his brother's lap. "If in fact there is a God, there's gotta be a candy bar in here somewhere."

He started to rifle through the clutter in the glove box with growing panic, every so often shooting a glance up at the road, but not quite often enough to avoid blowing through a few stop signs and a red light or two. That was the beauty of small towns according to Dean, red lights and stop signs were more or less optional seeing as the road was almost always abandoned; especially in the later hours of the evening.

"You know, you're really kind of pathetic."

"I told you, I'm running on fumes…I'm nauseous for crying out loud."

"For crying out loud?" Sam cackled.

"Shaddap!"

Turning his attention away from the amusement of his brother's plight, Sam's stomach dropped to his toes as the Impala soared down a rather steep hill and careened through a four way stop. Ahead of them, not far in the distance was what appeared to be an old derelict meandering at a snails pace, oblivious to the world around him. Though typically dressed for a grungy old man, the stranger stooped and walked with strange gait that, among everything else, suggested he wasn't quite right in some manner of speaking. What was most concerning, however was the fact that he was walking dead center in the middle of the road and if Dean's misdistraction had anything to do with it, the boys were more or less mere moments from plowing the old man down.

"Uh…Dean."

"What?"

"I think you should focus." Sam deadpanned a warning to his brother as the car devoured the asphalt between them and the old man.

"Yeah? Well, I think you should shut up and help me." Dean spat. "There's gotta be like half a sandwich in here somewhere."

"No…Dean…really."

"Yeah…Sam…really." He mocked Sam aggravated. "Can it and check the freaking duffle before my stomach turns itself inside out alright?"

"Dean, the road!"

Sam lunged towards Dean's side of the car and grabbed the wheel, pulling into a sharp swerve and narrowly avoiding what would have been a very unpleasant collision.

Dean jerked upright, eyes wide in shock and just barely able to pull the wheel back away from Sam so as to avoid careening through a rusty old mailbox and through the cheerily painted window of a collectables shop. The Impala shook and slid wildly side to side as Dean slammed on the breaks and brought the car to a skidding halt. Seconds passed like minutes and a heavy silence hung in the air as the brothers struggled to come to their senses and quell the shot of adrenaline surging through their veins.

"Holy shit!" Dean managed to force out, ram rod straight in his seat and blinking rapidly as though it would help pull his mind the rest of the way back into coherence.

"Yeah."

"What the hell is that old dude doing?" His voice elevated to an uncharacteristic octave as he turned to shoot a glare at the old man through the back windshield.

"I don't know." Sam shook his head and followed Dean's gaze. "Going for a late night stroll with a death wish."

"Buddy, use a sidewalk."

Sam cackled and with a sigh of relief, turned in his seat again. Just as he was almost faced forward again, his eye line spiked the rear view mirror just for a split second and he caught a second glimpse of the figure. Just as Lily had said she had seen, the reflection was as far away from human as it comes. Instead of a greasy old bum there stood a ghastly thin and sunken monster with hollowed black eyes and lips curled to reveal a gleaming row of razor sharp teeth.

Luck was not on the Winchester's side; the Harbingers had come out in force for Lily and one by one out of the shadows on either side of the road, more of them emerged slowly and joined the first.

"What is this creepy community nature walk night?"

"If only that weren't the better of two options." Sam jerked his head in the direction of the mirror.

Dean turned to the mirror, craned his neck back to see out the windshield, then took another quick look at the reflection. "Oh, come on you have got to be kidding me."

"Yeah, I don't think they are."

"Well_ this _isn't good."

Sam arched a brow. "No kidding."

Dean thumped his thumb against the steering wheel and peered at the gathering Harbingers in the mirror again, trying to sort out something of a plan. When Castiel had told them they needed to fetch Lily as quickly as possible, he hadn't exactly imagined that they would fall under attack quite so immediately and now that they had, everything had the very real potential of turning into a disaster to say the least.

"Let's see, we have no plan and no way of actually killing these things…"

"Very little chance of success." Sam offered with a smirk, holding his thumb and forefinger together in a cheeky measure.

"Sounds like a party to me." Dean sighed and pulled the Impala back in the proper direction and pulled out in the direction of the hospital. "And by party let's hope I don't actually mean bloodbath."


End file.
